


Faith

by shadowsamurai



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-21
Updated: 2012-06-21
Packaged: 2017-11-08 06:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/440227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsamurai/pseuds/shadowsamurai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Epilogue for S1, Ep 10 'Believers'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm just borrowing things for a while and I promise I'll put everything back exactly how I found it when I've finished. Well, almost exactly how I found it. ;) 

B5-B5-B5-B5-B5-B5

Ivanova paused outside Med Lab 1, unsure if the doctor was in there or not. There were no lights on, but she couldn't think of any other place he would be. It was his comfort zone, like the observation dome was hers, and after what Garibaldi had told her, Ivanova couldn't imagine Franklin leaving it.

Franklin heard the doors to Med Lab open, and then the soft footfalls of someone approaching, but he didn't look up. The last thing he wanted was to be disturbed.

"Go to Med Lab 2 if you need a doctor," he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"Not really, but I thought you might need a friend," Ivanova replied.

Franklin looked up, surprised. "Have you come to lecture me as well, Lieutenant Commander?"

Ivanova clasped her hands behind her back and frowned. "Tell me, Doctor, who has lectured you so far?" she asked. "Mr Garibaldi? I doubt it, it isn't his style. Any of the ambassadors? Why would they? The Commander?" She shook her head. "Definitely not his style. And I haven't been here. So that only leaves one other person: your good self."

"Is there a point to all this?" Franklin replied in a harsh tone.

Ivanova glared at him, then sat on the step next to him. "Yes, there is. You can lecture yourself as much as you want over this, Stephen, but the fact of the matter remains that you made the decision and it cannot be changed. And lecturing yourself doesn't work, so if you need someone to do it for you, I'll be more than happy to, but it still won't change what happened. If the Commander had ruled in your favour, the parents would still have done the same thing. If you hadn't taken matters into your own hands, the child would have died anyway. No matter what path was taken, the end result would have been the same. And no amount of blame you put on yourself, the parents or Commander Sinclair will change it."

"That doesn't help," Franklin said.

"Doctor, I could sit here all night and comfort you, and it wouldn't help. I could drag you through the corridors of the station by your big toe, and it wouldn't help. I could say or do many things, none of which would help." Ivanova spread her hands. "It's life, Stephen. It isn't easy, it certainly isn't fair, it just…is."

A small smile crept onto Franklin's face. "You know, Susan, I can't decide if you sound more like G'Kar, Delenn or Commander Sinclair."

"Put them all together and you might be close," she replied, straight faced. "The sooner you accept what happened as just being, the sooner you'll be able to move on." Then she saw what he was holding. "What is that?"

"It's a Glopet Egg," he said sadly. "Actually, it's just industrial goo, but I gave it to Shon to try and help him."

Ivanova studied Franklin for a moment. "Stephan, if you believe it's a Glopet Egg, then that's what it is. Today, you believed whole-heartedly that what you were doing was the correct thing. The parents believed the same. Who's to say who was right and who was wrong? In our culture, what they did was wrong, but in theirs, what you did was wrong. It's all about respect and understanding, and faith. So, if you believe that's a Glopet Egg, then that's what it is," she repeated. "And no one can change your mind."

"I thought you were Russian," Franklin said.

"I am."

"Then what's with all the fortune cookie talk?" he asked. "I expect this sort of thing from the Commander, but not you."

"Because he is the Commander," Ivanova replied. "And as such he can't always be your friend, so I'm filling in the gap for him."

Franklin smiled properly. "Thank you, Susan."

"I'll send you a bill in the morning." She stood. "Now, I'm going to get drunk, I think. Care to join me?"

"I think I will." He stood also and looked at the goo in his hand. "Faith, you said?"

Ivanova nodded. "Faith. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps us going, whether it's faith in ourselves, the government, or our friends, we all must keep the faith."

"I'll try to remember that," Franklin replied. He put the goo on his desk, paused, then moved it to a warmer place. As Ivanova's quizzical expression, he just smiled and shrugged. "You never know, it might hatch."

"Make sure you call me first if it does," Ivanova said as they left Med Lab. "I've never seen baby goo before."

FIN


End file.
